Service Employees International Union

Workers at a hospital and two nursing homes in Hollister, Calif., have voted to remain in the Service Employees International Union rather than join a rival group launched by former officers of the giant labor organization. The election was the latest skirmish between the SEIU and the upstart National Union of Healthcare Workers, which has filed election petitions to represent nearly 100,000 employees in California.

In the biggest private-sector labor election since 1941, the giant Service Employees International Union has decisively defeated an insurgent group to continue representing about 43,000 Kaiser healthcare workers in California. The SEIU received 18,290 votes to 11,364 for the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which was launched last year by several former leaders of the larger organization. The mail ballots went out in mid-September and the count was completed late Thursday.

The Service Employees International Union, Local 102 became the second-largest county workers' union Monday when it merged with the 748-member San Diego County Probation Officers Assn. As a result of the merger, Local 102 represents more than 2,000 county employees, second only to the troubled County Employees Assn., which has about 6,500 members.

The state council of the Service Employees International Union, the largest labor union in California, has endorsed Proposition 19, the initiative on the November ballot that seeks to legalize marijuana. The endorsement, announced Tuesday, could boost the campaign, which has not been able to raise enough money for television advertisements and is relying on grass-roots outreach. The SEIU, which says it has more than 700,000 members in California, is a significant political force in state politics, although it is not clear how much money or muscle it will put toward passage of the measure.

For years, the powerful Service Employees International Union has played a lead role in the campaign for a landmark federal law that would allow workers to join a labor organization simply by signing petitions. Now, as part of a high-stakes battle in California, the union is urging federal officials to throw out petitions signed by tens of thousands of its own members who have asked to be represented by a rival upstart group. The David-vs.

The leaders of an Oakland union were removed from office Tuesday by their Washington bosses, the culmination of months of fighting over who will represent tens of thousands of home health aides. The Service Employees International Union served the officers of the 150,000-member United Healthcare Workers West with a trusteeship notice Tuesday afternoon. It appointed its executive vice presidents, Eliseo Medina and Dave Regan, as trustees.

Putting aside a decade of differences, California's two largest health-care unions, the Service Employees International Union and the California Nurses Assn., announced an agreement to join forces in disputes with the corporate health-care industry. The unions said they would work together to protect staffing levels and oppose health-care cuts during the ongoing state budget crisis.

Yosemite National Park service workers overwhelmingly turned down the latest contract proposal from Yosemite Park and Curry Co., authorizing their union to call a strike during Easter Week. Spokeswoman Connie Cooper said 91% of the members of Service Employees International Union, Local 752, supported the call for a possible strike Tuesday. The approximately 750 employees seek improved health care benefits and more control over their housing, including the right to choose their own roommates.

Tenet Healthcare Corp., the second-biggest U.S. hospital operator, reached wage agreements with the Service Employees International Union on contracts in California, Florida and with the national organization. The terms for separate contracts cover 5,700 SEIU union members at 14 hospitals in California and 2,300 at three institutions in Florida, the Dallas-based company said. The California contracts expire March 11, 2011, and those in Florida expire on different dates in 2010.

The union representing 10,000 blue-collar workers at City Hall has tentatively agreed to a contract that defers raises for a year to accommodate the city's budget problems, union officials said Tuesday. The contract, which is subject to approval by the union members, would provide a 2% raise on July 1, 2005, 2% a year later and 2.25% on Jan. 1, 2007, and would include job protections, said Julie Butcher of the Service Employees International Union.

Culminating a fierce election battle, about 700 workers at USC University Hospital in Los Angeles are scheduled to vote this week on whether to join a new union in a bitter campaign that has highlighted a deep rift in the labor movement. USC has been accused of harassing union backers and coercing employees to vote against the union. The university declined to respond directly to the charges, instead issuing a statement saying "USC values the right of employees to choose union representation."

Labor unions representing California nurses are attacking key parts of a bill that would overhaul the state's system for investigating and disciplining health workers accused of misconduct. The objections by the politically powerful California Nurses Assn., Service Employees International Union and groups for other health professions come days before a state Senate panel is set to vote on moving the bill forward. The Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development must advance the bill Monday or it is dead for this session.

Andy Stern, the powerful and polarizing leader of the Service Employees International Union, is expected to step down as soon as this week, a move that could signal a further reconfiguring of the American labor movement. Several knowledgeable SEIU insiders, speaking on the condition of anonymity because no official announcement had been made, said Tuesday that Stern had decided to retire after 14 years as president of the union. About one-third of the organization's 2.2 million members work in California.

Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers throughout Southern California have voted overwhelmingly to quit the giant Service Employees International Union and join a smaller rival union. The National Labor Relations Board, which tallied secret ballots cast earlier this month, said Tuesday that about 2,000 nurses and healthcare professionals voted more than 6 to 1 in favor of ditching the SEIU. They are affiliating with rival National Union of Healthcare Workers, a breakaway faction. The defeat is a major setback for SEIU, the largest hospital and healthcare workers union in California, with about 150,000 members.

An upstart union challenging the giant Service Employees International Union won a plurality Friday in a disputed and closely watched union vote at a Sonoma County Hospital. But the National Labor Relations Board, which oversaw the vote at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, said it could not declare a winner because the final margin was close and 17 ballots were challenged. "At this point, we don't have a determinative result," said Tim Peck, assistant to the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board.

Hundreds of workers at a Sonoma County hospital are scheduled to go to the polls today in a bitter and closely watched union vote pitting the giant Service Employees International against an upstart rival. The balloting at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has drawn intense scrutiny in labor circles nationwide because of the nasty underlying conflict between the SEIU and its breakaway competitor, the National Union of Healthcare Workers. The NUHW doesn't yet have a single dues-paying member but is waging a David versus Goliath campaign against the behemoth SEIU, which boasts more than 2 million members nationwide, almost half in the healthcare sector.

Union Launches Boycott of Apple Computer: A union that represents local janitors has launched a nationwide boycott of Apple Computer Inc. products, officials said. Jon Barton, a spokesman for the Service Employees International Union, said the union is bracing for what could be a lengthy effort. The boycott is the latest move in a yearlong dispute over Apple's hiring of a non-union company to clean its headquarters in Cupertino. About 100 non-union employees of Shine Building Maintenance Inc.

Los Angeles County's 4,500 nurses Thursday voted to authorize a strike by more than a 9-1 margin, reflecting what union leaders said is anger and frustration. Ramon Rubalcava, research director for the Service Employees International Union Local 660, which represents the nurses, said the county's action at a meeting on Monday "will determine how soon the strike starts. "It's up to the county," he said. "If the county wants to strike, it's on."

A federal labor board decision this week has given a major victory to a breakaway union vying with the giant Service Employees International Union to represent tens of thousands of California healthcare workers. On Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board called for elections to determine who has the right to represent some 2,300 Kaiser healthcare workers employed at various sites in Southern California. An SEIU affiliate currently represents the workers, but the breakaway group filed a petition in February challenging the SEIU.

About 20,000 Los Angeles school district workers have agreed to four unpaid furlough days to help close a large budget gap, officials announced Monday. Two units of Service Employees International Union Local 99 representing cafeteria workers, bus drivers and other employees approved the measure last week by a combined vote of 953 to 234, said Blanca Gallegos, a union spokeswoman. The members will take one furlough day per month from February through May. The move will save about $7.7 million, according to union officials.